Sunday, March 13, 2011

North Carolina's loss to Duke in the ACC championship game this afternoon turned out to be a big problem in the NCAA pairings.

As the No. 2 seed in the East, the Tar Heels do get to start in Charlotte.

But if the top four seeds advance to the regional semifinals in Newark, N.J. (March 25 and 27), the chalk pairings would be UNC vs. Syracuse (3) and Ohio State (1) against Kentucky (4).

Talk about a tough ticket to find.

By contrast, Duke got rewarded for the most part by winning the ACC.

The Blue Devils, as No. 1 in the West, will have to travel to Anaheim, Calif., for the regional semis. On the other hand, the Blue Devils get to open in Charlotte and drew the easiest regional field.

No. 2 San Diego State has virtually no NCAA experience, and No. 3 Connecticut is the most likely team in the entire field to suffer an early letdown after having won five Big East tournament games in five days.

The region with the biggest upset potential is the Southeast, where No. 1 Pittsburgh is certain to have a difficult second game against either Butler (8) or Old Dominion (9), which will have a lot of fans on hand in Washington, D.C.

In the Southwest, Kansas (1) faces a potential monster third game if No. 4 Louisville can make it to the regional semifinals in San Antonio.

ACC teams' concerns going into the NCAA tournament:

Duke: Free throws and Kyle Singler's perimeter shooting. But the Blue Devil defense, as usual, was near perfect in the three ACC Tournament games.

Duke could really catch a break if Texas and Arizona, the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively in their regional, fail to make the semifinals. That's a distinct possibility given the way both have played of late.

UNC: Tournament experience. It takes a special passion and mindset to go deep in the NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels were overwhelmed by Duke's intensity this afternoon and were almost knocked out of the ACC tournament a day earlier by Clemson.

UNC should win two in Charlotte over Long Island in its opener and either Georgia or Washington in the next game. Then, the heavy lifting really gets underway, especially if Syracuse reaches Newark with its zone defense and fan base.

Clemson: The Tigers generally lack NCAA exposure, as well. Another issue will be early foul trouble for Jerai Grant and Devin Booker.

The selection committee had no respect whatsoever for the ACC, which is understandable. The Tigers have to survive a play-in game (vs. a decent Alabama-Birmingham team), and Virginia Tech was snubbed again. Should they win, the Tigs then would be a 12-seed in the tough East and would have to play No. 5 West Virginia.

Florida State: Without Chris Singleton, the Seminoles -- the 10th seed in the Southwest regional -- are leaderless. They will need a lot of luck to defeat No. 5 seed Texas A&M in their opener in Chicago whether the junior forward returns from his injury or not.

About this blog

David Scott has been with the Observer for 28 years and has written about ACC, SEC and other college sports in the Charlotte region. He covers Wake Forest, South Carolina and college soccer for the Observer and (Raleigh) News & Observer.

J.P. Giglio covers the ACC for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1997, and the Observer.

Andrew Carter covers the North Carolina Tar Heels for the Observer and News & Observer.

Laura Keeley covers the Duke Blue Devils for the Observer and News & Observer. Follow her on Twitter.

Chip Alexander covers the Carolina Hurricanes and college football for the News & Observer, where he has worked since 1979, and the Observer.

Luke DeCock has worked for The News & Observer since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist for the Observer and News & Observer in August 2008.

Tim Crothers is an author and former senior writer at Sports Illustrated who is joining the sports staff to write a regular column during the rest of the college basketball season.